New Year's With a Friend
by hxchick
Summary: Dave wants to ring in the new year by himself, but JJ isn't going to let that happen. Another falling in love story. Multi-chapter.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 1

* * *

Agent Jennifer Jareau's high heeled shoes made a loud clacking noise as she walked through the deserted bullpen. She was a woman on a mission and her mission was finding the dark haired, big egoed, Italian profiler and she had more than an inkling of where she could find him. Knocking on his office door, she didn't wait for an invitation before entering. When she did, she found him staring out the window, an open bottle of scotch sitting on his desk.

"Hey Rossi, what are you doing for New Year's?" She asked cheerily, never taking her eyes off of the man. If he only knew that she had been lusting after him since the first day she met him in Hotch's office…hell, if only he knew she'd been fantasizing about him since the first time she saw him in the Georgetown University bookstore back when she'd been a young coed. She shook those thoughts from her head as she waited for his answer.

Pulling his eyes from the dreary winter day outside of his window, Rossi looked at her confused. "What?" He asked, not sure how or when she'd come into his office.

"The weekend," she repeated slowly, "What are your plans for the weekend?" When she saw his blank stare, she elaborated. "Strauss gave us the rest of today, tomorrow and the entire weekend off when we got back earlier, don't you remember?"

He shook his head, "I guess I didn't," he told her. The team had just finished a hellacious case, one that didn't end very well and his mind was still wrapped up in it.

"Come on, Dave, you must have _something_ planned; it's New Year's weekend. Don't you have some cute little thing waiting on pins and needles for your return?"

He shook his head, "No, there's no one, hasn't been for quite awhile now." He didn't mention that there had been no one else since he'd met her his first day back at the bureau. He didn't mention that he longed for her touch, that he dreamed of bringing her to his cabin and having his wicked way with her for days on end, that he fantasized about spending the rest of his life with her. He didn't tell her any of that because he knew she was one of the best shots in the Bureau and his fantasies didn't include having her unload her sidearm into his chest. "I guess I'll spend the weekend at the cabin with my good my friend Jack Daniels."

JJ shook her head, "Sorry Dave, I can't allow you to wallow in your perceived failure of this last case. You're coming home with me this weekend!"

Dave gave her a soft smile, "Thanks Jen, but I would really prefer to be alone than in your tiny apartment in the city; no offense."

She smiled, "None taken, and we won't be at my apartment, we're going to Pennsylvania to my parent's house. My mom and dad realized long ago that they wouldn't be able to get all of their children home for Christmas, so they guilt us into coming home to celebrate the new year. This will be the first time in three years that all of us kids will be in the house at the same time. Trust me; it will be a weekend to remember."

Dave smiled, he was touched that she wanted to invite him to what was obviously a family function, but he really wasn't in the mood to be around people. Shutting himself off at his cabin with his dog and some nice scotch sounded like the perfect way to ring in another shitty year. "It sounds great Jen, but I'm going to pass. You have fun though," he said dismissively. He was surprised when, instead of leaving, she sat down in a chair in front of his desk and gave a gentle peal of laughter. "Oh Rossi, it's cute that you think you have a say in this. The truth is, you have no choice in the matter."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, his eyes narrowing. It didn't take a profiler to realize JJ was up to something and he knew he was involved, whether he wanted to be or not.

"Well you're not going to get very far without your car keys, are you?" She asked innocently.

Dave, not liking where the conversation was going, opened his top desk drawer and saw that, sure enough, the keys to his SUV were missing. "Where are they JJ?" He asked roughly.

"They're in a safe place and you'll get them back when we come in to work on Monday morning," she told him.

"I'm not kidding Jareau, give them to me now!" He ordered and was amazed when her smile just grew larger; he was used to people doing things when he wanted and how he wanted, he wasn't used to people arguing with him.

"You'll get them back on Monday, Rossi," she repeated as she saw him glance at his desk phone. "I know what you're thinking, but no cab is going to come all the way out here, take you all the way to your cabin and then go back to DC. And if you're thinking about calling one of our team members, forget it. Reid's on his way to Vegas, Derek and Garcia are holed up in her apartment with their phones off and Prentiss didn't even take her cell phone home with her."

"Hotch will come get me," the older profiler said confidently.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" JJ said conversationally, "But of course you'd be wrong. When I ran this plan past Hotch, he was all for it, he was able to recognize the signs of burnout in you even if you don't."

"Dammit!" Dave exclaimed, knowing he was well and truly trapped. How he'd managed to let this little slip of a woman get the upper hand over him, he didn't know.

JJ's grin broadened, "Grab your go bag Dave and meet me at my office in five minutes," she instructed.

Dave saw a way out of all of this, "I don't have any clean clothes left and I'm almost out of my medications. I _have _to go home JJ," he practically begged, but JJ was having none of it.

"I might not be a vaunted profiler, but even I can see through that lie," she told him. "Pretty weak, Rossi. I happen to know for a fact that you bring full bottles of your blood pressure medications with you whenever we go out of town and so what if you don't have any clean clothes? My parents have a big ol' washing machine that you can use. Now chop chop, Dave; my office in five minutes." With that she left him stewing in his office.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 2

* * *

Five minutes later, JJ heard grumbling as Dave approached her office. Looking up from her desk, she saw that the profiler was wearing a dark look on his face. "Ready?" She asked cheerfully.

"Do I have a choice?" He asked petulantly.

"Nope!" She exclaimed as she picked up her own go bag. Dave, who was usually a gentleman and wouldn't dream of letting a woman carry her own bag, was too engrossed in his planning her demise to notice that she was in fact carrying her own duffel bag.

They made their way to the elevators and then down to the parking garage where they passed Dave's comfortable looking SUV and walked instead to JJ's small hybrid car. They threw their bags into the trunk and then Dave made a theatrical production of folding his large frame into JJ's small car. While he huffed and puffed about giving up the comfort of his large SUV, JJ's car was actually quite comfortable and deep down he knew he was acting like a child having a tantrum.

JJ was more amused at Dave's antics than annoyed. She knew the older profiler was used to getting his own way, but she never imagined that he would be capable of throwing such a passive aggressive fit. She began to feel a deep sympathy towards their boss if this was the way he acted any time he didn't get his way. She pulled out of the garage and instead of turning left to get onto the highway, as Dave expected she would, she turned right.

"You know a shortcut to the interstate, Jen?" He asked confused.

"No, I've got to pick Henry up from daycare," she told him as she maneuvered into the parking lot of a small building.

"Why don't you just put him in the Bureau daycare?" Dave asked with a sigh; it wasn't that he didn't like kids, he just…yeah, he didn't like kids. Part of the problem was that he didn't know how to relate to them. He wasn't one to speak baby talk and he hated dumbing things down for them. Any time he had to deal with a child, he usually treated them like small adults and hoped for the best. "It's closer and probably a lot cheaper."

"It is," JJ said as she pulled to a stop in a parking space, "But I don't want Henry in that environment. While the daycare might be in a separate room from all of the doom and gloom, the stress still seeps in and I don't want him around that, I want him to be in a place that is happy and full of happy people." She opened her door and stepped out into the parking lot and Dave followed behind her.

He felt a rush of domesticity as they both entered the daycare building, as if they were a married couple coming to pick up their own child, and he found he liked it. She was the first woman he ever imagined having a child with and the thought both thrilled and terrified him. His thoughts were interrupted by a happy squeal and suddenly JJ had ten-month old Henry Jareau securely in her arms.

"Hi honey, did you miss me?" She asked him as if she expected a coherent answer from the baby. She held him in one arm while she spoke to the daycare provider. While JJ had her conversation, Dave and Henry stared at each other, as if sizing the other one up. After a full two minutes of silence from both of them, JJ finished her conversation and stared at the two boys. To hers and Dave's surprise, Henry made up his mind about the older profiler and gave him a large, gummy grin. The grin turned into a giggle that included hand clapping and Dave couldn't resist ruffling the toddler's hair. He looked up to find JJ staring at him in shock.

"What is it, Jen?" He asked in alarm.

"I've…I've just never seen him take to a stranger like that," She said in shock. "Usually he hides his face in my shoulder for an hour or two until he's comfortable with the person, but he smiled at you within a minute of meeting you!"

"I don't know what to tell you," Dave said with a smile, "I guess he just likes my warm and sunny personality."

JJ gave an unladylike snort as she paid the daycare and then carried her son out to the car. She strapped him into his car seat in the back and then got behind the wheel again. She waited until Dave was seat belted before inserting a CD into the player. "I hope you like kid's music," she told him, "Because it's a three hour trip to Pennsylvania."

Dave groaned as the sound of _The Wiggles _came out of the speakers. He heard Henry squeal with joy and he knew the battle was lost; he would much rather listen to the kiddy crap rather than have the infant cry the entire trip.

"So what's your beef with children?" JJ asked as she pulled onto the highway.

"I don't have a problem with them, it's just that I'm not good with them," Dave told her, not wanting to outright say that he didn't like them, especially since her son was sitting less than two feet away from him.

"Bullshit," JJ said. "I've seen you with kids during some of our cases and you're great with them."

"I'm good with the ones who can talk and form coherent sentences; it's the other ones I'm not good with."

After that, they rode in silence for the next fifteen minutes or so, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Dave finally broke the silence.

"So why did you call me a 'vaunted profiler' back at headquarters?" He asked. "You said it as though you were cursing."

"Did I?" She asked, not wanting to get into it with him.

Dave nodded, "So what gives? Do you have something against profilers in general, or is it just me?"

"It's profilers in general," she told him, "And not all of the time, just today."

"What did we do to piss you off?"

JJ sighed, "It was just one of those days where I felt like a glorified secretary," she told him, hoping he'd drop it. She should have known better as she saw his left eyebrow raise in curiosity. "This last case was draining for all of us; you guys had your hands full trying to nail down a solid profile while I was dealing with all of the press the case was generating and Garcia was frantically trying to get you guys some digital leads."

Dave nodded, "It was a shitty case alright," he agreed.

"It was," JJ confirmed, "And at the end of it you guys got to take your bows and have the townspeople kiss your asses like you were Gods, while Garcia and I quietly wrapped things up on our end. It just got to me today seeing you guys get all of the glory even though it was really a team effort."

"Jesus Jen, I had no idea that you and Garcia felt that way," Dave told her, feeling like an ass.

"And we don't always feel this way; it was just today…it was just this case."

"You know that we ALL appreciate what you do for us, don't you?" Dave asked. When he didn't receive an answer, he continued, "Christ Jen, you have the hardest job on the team; you're the one who not only picks the cases we take on, but you also keep all of us in line. We would be lost without you; _I_ would be lost without you!" He exclaimed, wondering if he'd gone too far by making it personal.

JJ didn't seem to pick up on it though, or if she did, she chose not to comment on it. Instead, she smiled and said, "Thanks Dave that means a lot, especially coming from you."

He returned her smile and they drove on in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 3

* * *

The first half of the drive to Pennsylvania was a quiet one; Dave and JJ talked about their jobs and their co-workers and they got to know each other a little better. Other than the kiddy music which played softly in the background, it was a fairly pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

After about an hour and a half, they hit a lull in their conversation and Dave was watching the countryside pass by when he felt JJ apply the brakes and turn onto a country road.

"Where are you going?" He asked with a frown. He could see flurries beginning to fall and he assumed JJ would want to get to her parent's house before the predicted heavy snowfall arrived.

"I forgot to get gas in DC," she admitted sheepishly. "I know there's a station just a mile or two down this road."

"Why don't we switch drivers there?" He asked her and was surprised when she vehemently shook her blonde head.

"I don't think so," she told him with a wry smile.

"Why not?"

"Because as soon as you get these keys in your hot little hands, you'll head back to Washington and Henry and I will be stuck there too," she said.

Dave looked at her, "I would never do that," he said honestly. "Besides, DC is probably getting hit with a snowstorm as we speak. I promise I won't deviate from your charted course." Seeing she was close to giving in, he pushed a little harder. "Look Jen, you're exhausted. I know you didn't sleep on the flight back from Tennessee and soon you'll be driving through snow. Do you really want to endanger your son's life?"

She thought for a minute, "No, you're right. You promise you won't turn around and head back to DC if I let you drive?"

He held up three fingers, "Scout's honor," he promised.

JJ gave an loud snort, "They let _you_ into the boy scouts?"

Dave grinned in return, "Someday I'll have to tell you why I was kicked out."

JJ laughed, "Someday you will, but not today," she said as she pulled into the gas station.

She pulled up to an empty pump, turned the car off and was about to get out when she heard Dave's door open. "Where are you going?" She asked as he stepped out of the vehicle.

He ducked his head back into the car, "We're at a gas station and your tank is almost empty. Put that Georgetown education to good use and figure it out, Jen," he said and then shut the door.

JJ opened her own and stepped out into the cold, "You don't have to do that, Dave. I'm perfectly capable of pumping my own gas."

"JJ, my father would jump out of his grave and beat me to my knees if I ever let a woman pump her own gas in the freezing cold," he told her as he reached for his wallet.

Her feminist hackles rose at that, but it was really cold outside and she _really _didn't want to stand out there filling her gas tank, so she grabbed her purse from the backseat. "Here, at least take my credit card," she said, holding it out to him.

He looked at her incredulously, "Put that away," he hissed as he swiped his own card. "You're not paying for the gas, Jen."

"But Dave, I bamboozled you into this trip, you shouldn't have to pay for it," she protested.

"Jennifer, get back in the car before you manage to piss me off again," he told her, clipping his words.

JJ knew she was defeated, so she threw her purse back in the car and reached for her son instead.

"What are you doing now?" Dave asked, as he waited for the gas tank to fill.

"I need to change Henry," she told him.

Dave nodded, "Okay, when you're done meet me in the restaurant and we'll grab some grub for the road." He gestured towards the McDonald's attached to the gas station and JJ nodded. She hadn't realized it before, but she was famished

Once she had Henry securely in her arms, she rushed towards the building and into the single room restroom. While she changed her son, she had one of her many talks with him.

"So Henry, we finally got David Rossi to leave town with us. I know it was sneaky for mommy to hide his keys in Reid's desk, but I was desperate. He needed time away, honey, I could see that the recent cases were beginning to eat away at his soul and he needed to get away from the horror of them and I knew that if he went back to his cabin, he would constantly play them over and over in his mind." She said all of this while she removed his dirty diaper and cleaned him up.

"Can I tell you a secret Henry?" She asked as she sprinkled baby powder on him. The baby looked up at her with a smile as if to say, 'Sure, lay it on me, mommy.' "I think he's the one," she said, almost in a whisper. "I think I've finally found my Mr. Right," she told him as a grin slowly spread across her face. "He's perfect; he's funny, he's charming and, when he wants to be, he's a really good listener. Plus, I have an unexplained attraction to him. Am I crazy?" She asked her son.

Henry just giggled and played with the laces on her jacket, "Now all I have to do is convince him that he should take a chance on little 'ol me," she continued with a sigh. "His world is full of beautiful, important people and it will probably be an uphill battle to get him to see that someone as insignificant as me is made for him, but I'm going to try my hardest!" She told him as she zipped up his jacket. "That's why you need to be on your best behavior, honey; Dave is skittish around kids and we want him to see that we're _both_ worth it."

What JJ didn't know was that Dave had finished filling gas tank of her tiny car almost as soon as she'd gone inside. He knew she was changing Henry in the bathroom and he'd gone to see if she needed any help when she heard her talking to the baby. He heard the entire conversation she had with him and when she was done speaking, he was stunned. How could she possibly call herself insignificant? Didn't she know how important she was to the team? To him? How was it possible that she felt the same way about him as he did her? Dave felt like he had fallen down a rabbit hole as he quietly made his way back towards the McDonald's. He knew they couldn't have a heavy conversation in the car, especially with snow on its way, but he vowed that by the end of the weekend, Jennifer Jareau would know _exactly_ how he felt about her.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 4

* * *

Five minutes later, JJ met up with Dave in the lobby of the McDonalds. "Ooooh, I know I'm hungry when this stuff smells good," she said with a smile. Her smile faded as she reached for the ever-present diaper bag that usually rested on her shoulder. "Shoot! I left the bag in the restroom," she said as she handed Henry over to the older profiler. "Do you mind holding him for a minute while I go get it?" Not giving Dave much of a choice, she thrust her son into his hands and beelined it for the bathroom.

Dave, not having had much experience with kids, especially babies, held Henry under the arms in front of him and away from his body. Once again, the two stared at each other as they waited for JJ to return.

JJ, who also used the restroom herself while she was back there, returned to the lobby almost five minutes later to find Dave holding her son in the exact position she left them in. Snorting, she strode up to them. "He's not a bomb, Dave, you can hold him closer to your body." JJ took her son from his outstretched arms and settled him on her hip, where the baby snuggled in close to her, still watching Dave's every move.

Dave, who was happy that JJ had finally come back and relieved him of his duty as babysitter, let out a sigh, "Sorry JJ, I told you I was bad with kids, and he might not be a bomb but from what I've seen, babies usually have something disgusting coming out of their bodies at all times. It just seemed safer to hold him away from me."

JJ laughed, "You have a point Dave, I guess I've just gotten used to it in the last ten months."

Eager to get back on the road before the snow started in earnest, Dave changed the subject. "Do you know what you want?" He asked as he led them to the counter.

JJ nodded and looked at the cashier, "I'll have a quarter pounder extra value meal and can you substitute a chocolate shake for the drink?"

The clerk nodded as JJ reached for her wallet, but Dave cut in, "I'll have the exact same thing and can you please make the food to go?" He asked as he handed the teen a twenty dollar bill.

"Yes sir," he said as he handed Dave his change and then went to assemble their order.

"Dave, you didn't have to do that. Let me pay you back for my half," JJ said as she pulled out her wallet, but she was silenced by the look on Dave's face.

"There's no way in hell you're paying for your lunch, JJ. I don't know how other guys have treated you, but when you're with me, you get the whole chivalrous treatment."

She wanted to protest, she wanted to indignantly let him know that she could take care of herself, but it had been so long since someone had helped her, since someone had _wanted _to help her that she didn't want to ruin it, so she nodded. "Thanks Dave," she said softly.

"You're welcome Jen, now come on, let's get back on the road before we get snowed in here," he directed as he grabbed the food order. They dashed to the car, got Henry settled in and were back on the highway in less than five minutes.

After she handed Dave his burger from the bag, JJ unwrapped her own and took a big bite, "Yummmmm," she said contentedly.

"The burger's good?" He asked as he reached for some fries.

"Mmmm hmmm," she said as she took another big bite.

"I was surprised when you ordered all of that," he commented. "You usually order salads when we eat at these types of places."

"That's 'Agent Jareau,' she always eats healthy while on duty, but right now I'm just 'JJ,' and JJ _loves_ greasy, fast food!" She took another huge bite and once she chewed and swallowed, she said, "At the next exit, you're going to want to get off onto highway 59 west. That will take us almost to my parent's front door."

Dave nodded, "Speaking of your parents, what's your family like?" He asked.

"Where should I start?" JJ wondered. "My parents are both sixty-two years old. They met at a town picnic when they were sixteen and they married when they were twenty. They've both lived in Clintonville their entire lives; daddy's a farmer and mom's taught school on and off for the last twenty years. She usually teaches when money is tight, but with four kids to raise, it's been hard for her to juggle both."

"I can imagine," Dave said, thinking of his own mother and how she'd had her hands full with just him.

"My oldest brother is Mike; he's forty and he works as an ER doc in Philadelphia. He has a wife and two kids, but the kids won't be there this weekend. Mike and his wife Pauline are flying to England on Monday so Mike can deliver a lecture at a medical conference, so they left the kids with their other grandparents," JJ told him.

"Sounds like he's pretty successful," Dave said, as he focused on the road in front of him. The snow was falling harder and it was starting to stick to the shoulder of the highway.

JJ nodded, "He is. Then there's my older brother Steve, who's thirty-six. Steve is an astrophysicist and he works for NASA in Houston. He was always a handful growing up," JJ said with a smile. "He was always getting into the farming chemicals daddy stored in the barn. The number of things he blew up as a kid, well, let's just say no one in town was surprised when he pursued a career in science. That boy walked around town so often with his eyebrows missing or half of his hair burnt off …it's a wonder mom and dad didn't kill him when he was younger."

Dave smiled, "It sounds like you two were close?"

"We were," JJ agreed. "There were times he was so protective of me that I wanted to kill him, but he's also the one who taught me how to shoot and how to throw a punch."

"I'll stay out of his way then," Dave said jokingly, but there was a kernel of truth to what he said. He'd seen JJ spar with Morgan, so he knew she could more than take care of herself in hand to hand combat and he also knew that she was rated in the top five percent of shooters at Quantico.

"Then there's me, and then there's my sister Sarah. Sarah's nineteen and she's in her second year at NYU, where she's majoring in pre-law."

"That's quite an age difference," Dave remarked.

"Yeah, my parents refer to Sarah as their 'oops baby;' Mom was forty-two when she got pregnant with her. My parents thought they were past the childbearing years but evidently they were wrong. While Sarah was a huge surprise to them, my parents have always made sure that she knows she was wanted and that they love her as much as the rest of us," JJ told him. "She and I are really close; we have to be with two of the most over protective brothers on the planet looking out for us. Actually, all four of us are really close, even with the age differences."

"You're really lucky, JJ," Dave said, almost wistfully.

She nodded, "I really am, I just wish I could see them more often," She said as she watched out the window. She was surprised to see many familiar landmarks come into view, the last hour had flown by and they were already on the outskirts of Clintonville. "Speaking of my family, you're about to meet them. See that yellow mailbox? Turn right there, that's the road that leads to the house."

Dave turned where she directed, drove another mile and a half down a gravel road and then pulled to a stop in front of the Jareau family homestead. He sat behind the wheel for a few seconds to gather his thoughts and found himself feeling nervous. He was surprised by that, since he was just there as a friend, it wasn't as though he was dating JJ and he shouldn't care what her family thought of him, but he did; he really wanted to make a good impression on them.

Taking a deep breath, he got out of the car, helped JJ get Henry out of his car seat contraption and followed her up to the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 5

~Sorry for the delay in updating this...I kind of hit a brick wall with this story, but I got my mojo back and I have it outlined. Hopefully the updates will be quicker.

* * *

As he followed JJ up to the front door of her childhood home, Dave felt like a sixteen year old boy meeting his girlfriend's family for the first time. He tried to shake the feeling from his head since this was nothing like that. He and JJ weren't romantically involved; she'd just brought him here because she felt sorry for him. That's all…at least that's what he tried telling himself, but he knew deep down that he wanted to be meeting her family as something more than 'just a colleague.' He hoped the weekend with her would provide him with an opportunity to express his true feelings for her.

As they climbed the porch steps to the rambling, white farmhouse, the front door flung open and Dave got his first glimpse of one of JJ's brothers. The man looked like a slightly older, masculine version of JJ and he wore a giant smile. "Jenbug!" He exclaimed as he gathered her into his arms.

Inwardly groaning at the nickname, she looked at Rossi to see if he'd caught it. Yup, he was wearing a giant smile, so she knew he'd both heard the nickname and planned on using it in an embarrassing way in the future. Oh well, what was done was done.

"Steve, you realize I'm a grown woman, right? You can't call me by that ridiculous name forever!" She tried to sound stern, but the smile on her face gave her true emotions away.

Her brother set her down and shook his head, "Sorry Jenny, I don't care how much of a big, badass FBI agent you are; you'll always be the little girl who followed me around."

"Followed _you_ around?" A voice inquired from the doorway. "I remember having to practically attack her with a hose in order to get away from her."

"God Mike, you make me sound like a stalker!" JJ said, punching him on the arm as he came to give her a hug.

"Not a stalker, per se, but a damned annoying little six year old!"

"Yeah, and you were nothing but a pleasant fourteen year old," JJ shot back, good-naturedly. "If I recall, you actually _did_ spray me with the hose!"

Mike's retort was cut short by his mother's voice, "You all are going to catch your death out there! Steve, Mike, let your sister and her friend come inside," she ordered from the front door.

"Yeah," JJ said and then immaturely stuck her tongue out at her brothers as she walked towards the door. "Hi Mom," she said warmly as she gave her mother a hug.

"I didn't know if you would make it with the snow," she said as she released her daughter and plucked her grandson from her arms. "Goodness, he's grown!" She exclaimed as she gave Henry a kiss and them plopped him on her hip.

"Since he seems to do nothing but eat all day, I'm surprised he's not eighty pounds," JJ told her.

"Believe me, that won't stop until he's out of high school," her mother told her as she eyed her two sons. "This must be your friend from work," she said as she turned toward Dave.

JJ nodded, "Mom, Mike, Steve; this is David Rossi, he's an agent on our team."

"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am," Dave said as he shook Mrs. Jareau's hand.

"Please, call me Barb, Agent Rossi," she said warmly.

"Only if you call me Dave," he replied and the woman nodded. Dave shook Mike and Steve's hand before picking up the bags again.

"Jenny, I put you and Henry in Sarah's room so that Dave could use your old bedroom. Why don't you go get settled up there?"

"'Kay mom," JJ said and then made her way up the stairs with Henry. Dave followed and when they got to Sarah's room, he was surprised to see how small it was. "JJ, why don't you and Henry take your room and I'll just crash on the sofa in the living room."

"No, take my room Dave, I'll be fine in here," she told him as she set Henry down on the bed. Dave looked around the small room, which had two beds and a crib stuffed in it, not to mention all of Sarah's things, and shook his head in disbelief.

"Seriously Dave, when we would host family reunions here, Sarah and I used to share this room with four other cousins. Compared to that, this is nearly palatial."

"If you're sure," he said, unconvinced.

"I'm sure," she said firmly. "You're room is through there," she told him, pointing towards the bathroom. "The three of us will have to share the connecting bathroom."

"That's fine, JJ," he said as he picked up his duffel bag. He went through the connecting bathroom and found himself in JJ's childhood bedroom. While she might not have lived there for over ten years, the room looked like it had been largely untouched since her high school and college days. Dave spent the next twenty minutes looking at everything in the room so he could gain a better understanding of the woman he secretly loved.

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An hour later, JJ and Dave were down in the kitchen helping Barb put the finishing touches on the beef roast she had made. Both Steve and Mike were playing with Henry in the living room and they could all hear the baby's happy squeals.

"So how long have you been with the FBI, Dave?" Barb asked as she mashed the potatoes.

"Well, I retired back in 1995, but I came out of retirement just this year and re-joined the team. I found that retirement didn't suit me." He didn't fully answer her question, but he wasn't too anxious for her to learn that there was almost a twenty year difference between him and JJ. She could obviously tell he was older, but she didn't need to know how much older. He could tell she was about to push the subject, when suddenly the back door to the kitchen opened and a teenage girl dashed in.

"Jenny!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around her older sister.

"Sarah!" JJ said warmly as she returned the hug. She and her sister were close, and while JJ didn't get homesick too often, when she did, the first person she called was Sarah.

She released her sister and saw that her father had also entered the kitchen, "Hi dad," she said, going to give him a hug.

"Bug," her dad said in greeting as he wrapped his arms around his middle child and kissed the top of her head. He breathed a sigh of relief that she'd made it home safely. He worried about her more than any of his other children; he had to with the dangerous line of work she was in. While he was insanely proud of her, a large part of him wished she had chosen a less hazardous profession, preferably one where she didn't have to carry a gun.

Once he finally let her go, she introduced him and her sister to Rossi. "Dad, Sarah, this is David Rossi, one of my co-workers."

"Sir," he said, shaking her father's hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Agent Rossi," he said.

"Please, it's Dave."

"All right Dave, and I'm Tom," JJ's dad said.

Sarah, who had been silently watching the exchange, said, "God JJ, you really do go for older men, don't you?"

JJ, who didn't know it was possible to turn as red as she did without dying, had to hold back from slugging her sister.

"Sarah Jane!" Her mother exclaimed, "I swear, you have _no_ filter between your brain and your mouth!"

"Besides," JJ chimed in, still blushing, "It's not like that between Dave and I, we're just co-workers."

Dave, who had to work hard to keep a grin from overtaking his face at what Sarah had said, nodded in agreement. "We're co-workers _and _friends," he amended.

"Where's my grandson?" Tom asked, trying to change the subject and for the next fifteen minutes, he joined his sons in roughhousing with Henry.

Dinner that night was a raucous affair. Story after story was told about JJ's childhood and by the end of the meal, she was beginning to regret inviting Dave for the weekend as he surely had an unlimited supply of ammunition for his blackmail arsenal.

"Can I ask you why you call JJ 'Jenbug?" He asked over dessert.

Mike grinned, "When Jenny was around five years old, we were outside looking for bugs. I caught a giant June bug and held it close to her face, hoping it would cause her to go inside and leave me alone, but instead she held it and examined it. She finally asked me what it was called and I told her it was a june bug. She looked up at me and said, 'Just like me, except I'm a Jenbug. After that, the nickname kind of stuck."

Dave grinned at the mental image of a five year old Jennifer Jareau chasing around the farm, looking for bugs with her older brothers. As he thought that, another mental image flew into his head. This time, instead of a young JJ running after her brothers, it was a little girl that looked like both himself and JJ and she was running after an older Henry. Dave knew at once that he was imagining his child…_their_ child and he wondered where in the hell THAT had come from.

"What about you, Dave?" Barb asked, "Do you have any family in the area?"

"Not really," he responded. "My father died when I was twenty and my mother died nearly a year ago."

"I'm sorry, Dave," JJ said. "I had no idea."

"It happened right before I rejoined the team," he told her. "I have a younger brother and he's a career military man stationed over in Afghanistan. He's pretty high up in the chain of command and every once in a while I see him talking about the war on CNN." Everyone at the table could tell that Dave was proud of his younger brother's dedication to his country.

"You must worry about him," Barb said.

"You have no idea how much," Dave replied with a sad nod.

After that, the men, including a sleepy Henry, moved to the family room to watch whatever game was on, while the women cleared the table and washed the dishes. It amused Dave to see JJ step into a traditional female role, considering she was a pretty outspoken feminist. God knows he had gotten a couple of earfuls the few times he'd tried to protect her while they were in the field.

"Soooooo," Sarah started, as soon as the women had moved into the kitchen, "You and Dave. I gotta tell you, I can totally see it."

"Stop it, Sarah," JJ said, turning red, "There's nothing between us."

"But you _want _there to be, don't you?" She asked knowingly.

"Good God, can't I ever get away from profilers?" JJ mumbled under her breath.

"It doesn't take a profiler to tell that you have feelings for this man, sweetheart," Barb said as she began washing the plates. "Plus, you've mentioned him quite a few times over the past year."

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "You also have that look in your eye."

"What look?" JJ asked indignantly. She was practically a master poker player after playing so many times with Reid and she couldn't believe she had a 'tell' when it came to David Rossi.

"Like he's a cherry pie, and you have a massive sweet tooth," her mother replied.

"MOM!" JJ yelled, embarrassed beyond belief. Her mother and sister just grinned and JJ finally nodded her head. "Fine, you got me, I want to jump Dave's bones. Happy?"

"Jennifer!" Now it was her mother's turn to be horrified.

"What? You started it!" JJ told her as she dodged the damp dish towel that had been thrown her way.

"Yeah, but you took it too far, Jenny," Sarah told her with a smile. "That's _mom_ you're talking to!"

"Anyway," JJ continued, "Yeah, I like Dave, I might even love him, but it's a moot point since he doesn't feel the same way about me."

"Are you kidding?" Sarah asked in disbelief. "Haven't you picked up _anything_ from the profilers you hang around with? The man WANTS you, Jenny! You'd have to be blind not to see that!"

"No he doesn't," she said in disbelief.

"Yes he does," her mother agreed. "Your father looks at me the same way."

JJ was stunned. She couldn't believe what they were saying. "But what about…what about the age difference?" She asked as if she needed to find a reason why they wouldn't work as a couple.

Barb impatiently waved her hand in the air, "So what? My parents were twenty-five years apart and your father's were fifteen. As long as there's love in a relationship, nothing else should matter."

"What about Will," JJ whispered, knowing it would cause a reaction and she wasn't disappointed.

"What _about_ Will?" Sarah asked loudly. "Will has nothing to do with this! Will was a selfish, pigheaded, _mean, _asshole who didn't deserve one-tenth of your love!"

Barb, who usually hated it when any of her children swore, nodded in agreement. "Sarah's right, Jenny, you have to leave Will out of this. If you love Dave, you should tell him."

After that, Sarah and Barb discussed inane topics and JJ tuned them out as she dried the dishes. She knew her mother and sister were right, she had to learn to love again and she knew she wanted to learn with Dave.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 6

* * *

The next day, Dave was standing at the clothes dryer, pulling out his now clean laundry so he could promptly fold it, when a white t-shirt that was many sizes too small for him fell out of the pile. As he picked the shirt up, he noticed that there were a few other articles of clothing that weren't his, especially the pair of satin panties that had stuck, via static cling, to a pair of his blue jeans. Smiling as he separated his clothing from JJ's, Dave knew he could get used to seeing her clothes tangled up with his, both in the washing machine and on the floor of his bedroom. He shook that last image from his head and wiped the grin off of his face as he heard JJ approach the laundry room.

"Sorry Dave, I was going to get the laundry as soon as it buzzed, but Henry insisted on having his lunch before everyone else," JJ told him.

Dave looked at the blonde media liaison and smiled; she looked tired, but it was a good kind of tired. She and the rest of her family had stayed up until nearly midnight, exchanging stories and letting him in on some of JJ's antics as a child and it had been a great time. For the first time since his mom died, he felt like he was part of a family again. Sure, he had the BAU team, but when it came right down to it, they all kept some sort of distance between each other; it was an occupational hazard in their line of work. But the Jareaus had made him feel like he was one of them almost from the moment they'd sat down to dinner and it felt wonderful to be welcomed into such a warm and loving family.

Not only had everyone stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, but after retiring to his bedroom…well, JJ's bedroom…he'd heard JJ and her sister talking well into the night. While they were quiet, they had to be since Henry was sharing the room with them, Dave had the ears of a bat and he heard their soft murmurs until nearly two in the morning. As a result, JJ was tired, but it was a happy tired; it was an exhaustion that came from spending time with family members.

"No problem, Jen, I'm used to doing my own laundry," he said as he folded one of his t-shirts.

"Really? You?" JJ asked in disbelief. With all of his money, she just assumed he had his laundry sent out for cleaning. Almost instantaneously, a vision of David Rossi doing laundry in nothing but his boxer shorts popped into her mind and her cheeks flushed at the vision. She quickly turned her head to the side so the profiler wouldn't see, but it was too late.

"Yes, me. I'm very particular about how my clothes are cleaned and it's easier to just do it myself instead of instructing other people on how to do it."

"Ah now it makes sense," JJ nodded, "You're too fussy to let anyone do it for you."

"Fussy?" Dave asked in mock offense, "I prefer perfectionist, thank you very much."

JJ laughed as she paired her clean socks, "I guess that's better than 'anal retentive, neat freak."

"Who calls me that?" Dave huffed.

"No one," JJ said casually…a little too casually for it to be true.

Dave stared at her for a second before his eyes took on a mischievous glint. "I gotta tell you Jen," he said, reaching into the laundry pile in front of him, "I never took you for a polka dot kind of girl." With that, he hooked a pair of her panties over his finger and held them in front of him.

JJ turned even redder and snatched them away from him. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Dave," she said without thinking.

Dave's smile grew, "I'm sure there is, but I would like to learn."

JJ was about to respond back, when her mother appeared in the doorway. "There you two are," she said. "Lunch is ready."

"'Kay mom, we'll be right there," JJ said, feeling a lot like she did when she was in high school and got caught in a make out session with one of her boyfriends.

Avoiding eye contact with Dave, JJ set her folded clothing down on top of the dryer and headed for the kitchen; her clothes could wait but her hunger couldn't. She didn't know what it was about being back on the farm that sent her appetite into overdrive, but she always ate like a horse whenever she came home.

Dave followed JJ, wearing a goofy smirk the entire time, and when they got to the kitchen he saw there were sandwich fixings set out along the entire length of one of the kitchen counters. He quickly made himself a thick sandwich, garnished with pickles and potato chips and then joined JJ and the rest of her family in the dining room.

The conversation started out relaxed and easy; JJ's brothers were talking to their dad about what crops he was going to plant the following spring, and JJ and her sister were getting caught up on the town gossip from their mother. Dave was just content to sit back and enjoy his sandwich, offering up his opinion when it was asked for. After nearly an hour of continuous conversation, there was a lull and Dave filled it with, what he thought would be, idle chit chat.

"So Barb, Sarah told me you're teaching fifth grade this year. How do you like it?"

JJ's mother chuckled, "The kids can be a handful, but I don't mind. They're at that awkward stage when they know they're not as cool as the teenagers they see on TV, but they try to emulate them anyway. I just wish they wouldn't be in such a hurry to grow up."

"Times sure have changed since I was in school," Dave agreed.

"I didn't know you were teaching again, mom," Steve said from the other end of the table.

"Yeah, I thought you were going to retire," Mike chimed in.

"I was, but we could use the money right now," Barb told her sons as she fussed with her grandson.

"About that," Mike said, turning towards his father, "Have you heard anything from the bank yet?"

"Not yet, son," Tom said as he grabbed a couple of cookies from the tray in the middle of the table.

"They have to give you an extension," Mike told him, as he also snatched up a few of the chocolate treats. "You've been a loyal customer with them for over twenty years, it's not like you're some stranger."

"I know that, but banks work off a different set of standards than you and I do," Tom said calmly. "They don't _have_ to do anything to help me."

"I know John Styles," Steve said, referring to the local bank president. "He won't foreclose on this place without doing everything he can to help you."

"You guys?" JJ asked, with quick but meaningful glance in Rossi's direction, "Can we talk about this some other time?" She really didn't want their family's problems aired in front of him.

"I agree; it's so rare that I have all of you kids together under one roof and I want to focus on happy times," Barb said.

With that the conversation changed to happier events that each of her children was looking forward to in the near future.

xxxxxxxxxx

If someone had told her a week ago that she would be taking David Rossi on a tour of her childhood haunts over the holiday weekend, JJ would have recommended a thorough psych eval; preferably one that was in-patient. But here she was, walking around her family farm with Dave listening to her ramble on about every little thing. It was like a dream, especially since it was lightly snowing out and it gave everything a fairy tale-like quality.

As she led him through the empty, snow covered fields, she pointed out places from her childhood.

"See that tree?" She asked as she pointed out a large oak on the edge of the property. "That's where dad built me my first tree house. He figured that in a house full of boys, I needed one place where I could get away. My mom helped me decorate it with leftover scraps of carpeting and drapery material from the main house. Of course that was before Sarah was born."

"Of course," Dave agreed quietly. JJ gave him a sidelong glance and wondered what was up with him. He'd been quiet since lunchtime and it had been like pulling teeth to get him to go on this stroll with her. Thankfully Sarah had volunteered to watch Henry, so they didn't have him along, which would have made things even more strained since children were not high up on Rossi's 'most favorite' list.

"And see that dilapidated old building?" JJ asked and Dave nodded, "That was where my friends and I would sneak off to meet and drink beer. God, the last time I did that, my dad caught me and…well, let's just say it's a miracle that I can sit down, even now." She expected a smile from the older man, but he just stared thoughtfully at her.

Giving up on conversation, she led him to the small pond on the back end of the property and they stood and watched as the snow fell on the glassy ice surface.

"So what's up, Dave?" JJ finally asked as she turned and faced him. She knew something had changed since their laundry escapade, but she wasn't sure what it was.

"What do you mean, Jen?" He asked softly, as he also turned and met her gaze. JJ was surprised to see something that resembled regret and sadness in his eyes.

"You've gotten really quiet all of the sudden," she told him. "I might not be a profiler, but I can definitely tell when something is wrong. So what is it?"

Instead of answering her, Dave reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"What's this?" She asked as she unfolded it. Her curiosity turned to confusion when she saw that it was a check. It was made out to her and it was signed by Dave.

"It's a check, Jen, a blank check. Just fill in the amount with how ever much your family needs to save the farm," Dave told her as anger began coloring his voice.

"But...I'm confused. It's a nice gesture, but I can't take this from you," she said as she tried handing the check back to him.

Dave blocked her hands and glared down at her as the anger he had managed to push down since lunch, bubbled up to the surface. "Of course you can Jen," he said harshly. "Isn't that why you dragged me to your childhood home in the first place? To get money from me?"


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 7

**~I know, I suck at updating lately! I was out of town for a week doing research, so I wasn't able to update like I wanted to. After next week things should slow down for me for awhile *crosses fingers* so I hope to post more regularly on this story and on Happily Ever After.**

**~I haven't been able to thank everyone personally for your reviews since I'm so strapped for time, but THANK YOU! The reviews truly keep me going.**

* * *

"What?" JJ whispered, not sure she'd understood what Dave had said to her.

"If you needed money Jen, you could have just asked me, you didn't have to drag me up here," he said both angry and hurt at the level of treachery and deception she would go to just to get a couple of bucks from him. "Although, I gotta say, it was a nice touch introducing me to your family and letting me you all cared about me."

JJ didn't consciously think about her next move and she was just as surprised as he was when her right palm connected solidly with his left cheek. "You son of a bitch!" She shouted, "How DARE you think I would bring you here just to hit you up for money! I can't believe you think so little of me!" She took his blank check and ripped it into a hundred tiny pieces.

"What am I supposed to think, Jen?" He sneered. He was used to women using him for his social standing, his assets and his bank account. It still hadn't penetrated his thick skull that a woman could actually care about him without wanting anything tangible in return. "We're colleagues, barely even friends, and yet you asked me to come here…forced me, actually…out of the blue, your family accepted me and made me feel like one of their own within hours of meeting me and then, coincidentally, your father and brothers brought up the fact that the bank is about to foreclose on the farm. I can do math, sweetheart, and all of this adds up to one hell of a Machiavellian plan."

JJ felt lightheaded; sure she had a plan for that weekend, but it wasn't to get Dave's money, it was to get Dave's heart! But as anger took over her brain, that seemed less and less of a possibility. "Fuck you, Dave!" She yelled as she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her car keys. She threw them at the stunned profiler and screamed, "You want to know why I invited you here? Because I didn't want you spending the New Year alone after the horrendous case we just solved, even though you think we're 'barely friends'. I invited you here because I didn't want to start another New Year without you in my life. I invited you here because I wanted to tell you that I'm in lo…you know what? Forget it!" She was breathing heavily at this point and Dave was just staring at her in a stunned shock. "This was obviously a HUGE mistake! If you really think I could be so dishonest and devious, then you're not the man I thought you were!"

"Jen-" he started, but the irate blonde wasn't about to listen to anything he had to say.

"Go home, Rossi," she barked. "Take my car and just get the fuck out of here! You've wanted to leave all along and now's your chance. I'll get one of my brothers to drive me back to the city on Sunday. Just get the hell out of here!" Her anger was still present, but hurt had also taken up residence in her heart and she swiped away tears as she yelled.

"JJ," He tried again, but she turned and ran off before he could say anything.

Dave stood in the clearing, stunned by the intensity of JJ's emotions. Could it be true? Had she really invited him to her family farm because she felt bad for him? Did she really want nothing in return from him? And what had she started to say to him before she cut herself off? Was she going to say that she was in love with him? Was it possible that he had totally misread the situation? After all, she'd said that she didn't want to start another New Year without him in her life; is it possible she was as head-over heels in love with him as he was with her?

As the situation began to dawn on him further, he sat down hard on a tree stump. Good Christ, he just managed to fuck up the one bright spot in his life. Not only had he insulted her personal values and ethics, he'd also insulted the rest of her family by insinuating they were in on the supposed ruse. He felt like a monster as he reflected on what he'd said. JJ was the first woman in his life, other than his mother, to put his needs first. She could have left him in DC to pickle his liver and wallow in his own self-pity, but she didn't. Instead she'd dragged him home with her so he could feel happiness and acceptance and what did he do? He threw it right back in her face. He knew he needed to fix the situation, since he knew now that he was deeply in love with her and wanted to make her a permanent fixture in his life, but he wasn't sure how to do it. One thing he was sure of; it would involve a lot of groveling on his part and possible violence toward him.

He sat for a moment longer and mentally planned before he got to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he followed his tracks back to the farmhouse, praying the entire way.

Because of the deepening snow, it took Dave over half an hour to get back to the house and when he did, JJ was nowhere to be found. After asking her brothers about her, he realized she probably wanted to be alone, so he gave up his search and went into the kitchen for a drink of water. When he got there, he found a chilly Barbara Jareau waiting for him.

"Dave," she said with a glare.

"Barb," he nodded as he pulled a glass down from the cabinet. He moved to the sink, filled his glass with water and turned around. He wasn't surprised to find JJ's mother still giving him the evil eye. "She told you what I said, didn't she?"

Barb nodded, "She did."

"You have to know that I didn't mean any of it. I'm just not used to women doing nice things for me without wanting something in return."

"Well that give me a good indication of the type of women you're used to dating," she said coolly, "But my Jenny is not like that. You're a profiler Dave, you must have figured out that my daughter has feelings for you."

He nodded, "I have and I share those feelings. I'll fix this Barb, I swear I will."

"See that you do Dave, or I'll-" the rest of the older woman's threat was cut off by a loud "NO!" from her eldest daughter in the doorway.

"I thought I told you to leave, Dave!" JJ yelled. "Your welcome has officially expired!"

"Jen, you have to let me explain-"

JJ shook her head violently as she interrupted him, "I don't have to do a damn thing except shoot you with your own gun! Remember Rossi, I know the code to the gun safe and, if I remember correctly, I scored higher than you on our last firearms proficiency qualification. Now get the hell out of here!"

"That's enough Jennifer Lynn," her mother said sternly. "Dave is a guest in our home and I know I brought you up better than to treat a guest like that."

"But mom," JJ whined, sounding very much like a teenager.

"No buts," Barb said firmly. "In case you haven't noticed, there is a blizzard swirling around outside and I am not going to send anyone out in that, no matter what they've done," she said, shooting a glare at Dave.

"Fine!" JJ shrieked, "I'm going out to chop some wood. Why don't you join me Dave?" She said with false sweetness.

"No thanks JJ, I think I'll stay in here," he told her.

JJ glared at him as she put on her jacket and then stormed out of the house, slamming the door loudly behind her.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 8

**~Thanks again for all of the reviews!**

* * *

An hour later, Dave had had his fill of watching football on the television, which he hadn't thought would ever happen, so he got up from the sofa and stretched his legs.

"Where are you going, Dave?" Mike asked. All of JJ's siblings were in the den enjoying the game and they were surprised to see the profiler leaving early.

"It's been an hour and JJ isn't back yet; I'm going to go talk to her," he told them and was surprised to see all of them shake their heads.

"Bad move, man," Steve said with a smirk. "Jenny only goes out to chop wood when she's REALLY pissed! If you go out now, there's a good chance you'll come back in with fewer limbs. Let her cool down, let her work off some of her aggression outside."

"You only want him to wait because you don't want to have to chop wood for the fire tomorrow," Mike said, giving him a friendly punch on the arm. "Seriously though, Dave, I don't know what happened between the two of you, but trust me, you want to let Jenny cool off before you get within ten feet of her." He turned towards his brother, "Remember when she was in high school and I tried breaking up her relationship with Rick because I didn't think he was good enough for her?"

Steve nodded, "You limped for what? A week?"

"At least," Mike said and then looked back at Dave. "I don't know what you said to her, but when she gets this pissed off, the best thing to do is to wait it out."

"Thanks for the advice guys, but I need to fix this and I need to do it now," Dave said and then left the room.

Mike sighed and stood up. "Where are you going?" Sarah asked.

"To make sure my medical bag is stocked; I have a feeling Dave is going to be in need of my services fairly soon."

As JJ's siblings discussed his looming medical ailments, Dave put on his jacket and stepped out onto the porch; he wanted to fix things with JJ before she could harden her heart towards him any more than she already had. While he couldn't see the woman from where he was, he heard a loud THWACK from the side of the house and he deduced that's where the chopping block was. Throwing up a silent prayer that it wouldn't be his head on that block soon, he started in the direction of the sound.

JJ had worked out her frustrations on the chopping block since she was old enough to wield an axe. Anything from arguments with her parents to losing a soccer match had sent her out there when she was younger, but she'd never had as much anger to work off as she did that day. Placing another large log on the block, she pictured David Rossi's smirking, self-righteous face in the center of it and she brought the blade down with another satisfying THWACK.

"Jen?" She heard a voice ask tentatively from behind her. She spun around and saw the object of her ire standing five feet behind her, holding his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. She stared at him with a mixture of shock and anger; how dare he disturb her out here? Hadn't he done enough? She looked at him for a solid two minutes without saying anything and she felt a thrill of satisfaction as she saw the normally self-assured profiler begin to squirm.

"Well you have balls, I'll give you that much," she said, finally breaking the silence. "Whether you have them when you leave here remains to be seen." Her self-satisfaction grew as she saw the older man pale and take a step backward.

"Look Jen, I just want to talk to you, I want to explain why I reacted the way I did," Rossi said. Hearing his own voice, he realized he sounded confrontational and he knew that wasn't a good thing, especially since the younger woman in front of him was still holding an axe. He switched from David Rossi, man on the defensive, to David Rossi, charmer and smooth-talker. "I'm genuinely sorry for what I said to you in the clearing. I never meant to insult you _or_ your family."

"Yeah, well, you did, you insulted me in a big way, Rossi!" JJ said, every word dripping with hostility.

"Again, I didn't mean it," he said smoothly. "You have to understand, I'm used to women using me for their personal gain. My three wives, they…they weren't good people and they hurt me, they hurt me deeply and I guess I have problems trusting people, especially when they're as nice to me as you and your family have been." He paused, looked at the ground and sighed dramatically, "I think the only woman who has ever really loved me for me was my mother." There! That line _always_ worked with the ladies and he had no doubt it would work on the young Jennifer Jareau. His confidence turned to shock as he looked up and instead of seeing sympathy in her eyes, JJ rolled them and looked at him with contempt.

"Good God, Rossi, you missed your calling, you should have been an actor. I'm sure that line makes most women feel sorry for you, but not this woman! God, if that's what you have to use to get laid, then that's just pathetic! I would rather be celibate for the rest of my life than to have to rely on pity screws!" JJ spat and David continued to stare at her in both shock and anger. She was the first woman to ever reject him after his little spiel about his wives and mother! This blonde dynamo was continuing to stand up to him and very few people did that for very long. And not only was she standing up to him, she was insulting him _and _his ability to get laid!

"If you have another part to your 'poor me' routine, you can save it because I'm not falling for it," she continued. "You think you're the only one who's had it rough with members of the opposite sex?" JJ asked indignantly. "Let me tell you about some of _my_ experiences. First there was Matt. Matt was my high school boyfriend and we had been together for nearly a year before we slept together. I kept telling him that I wasn't ready to go all the way, but he eventually broke down my barriers and I lost my virginity to him in his parent's barn. It turns out that's the only thing he was interested in and the following Monday at school, he told everyone what a fantastic lay I was. That afternoon he broke up with me, saying he got what he needed from me and it was time for him to move on. That kinda dings a girl's ability to trust in men."

"JJ, I-" Dave tried interrupting, but JJ silenced him with a glare as she set the axe down next to her.

"In college, I met a guy in my dorm and he seemed like a great person. We became fast friends and one night we were watching a movie in my room when he decided he wanted to be more than friends and he didn't really give a damn about my protestations. Since we were alone in my room and he outweighed me by a hundred pounds, he really didn't have to take my verbal commands to stop into consideration and he didn't. The only thing that saved me from being raped that night were my soccer skills and that I was able to get one hand free of his. It was just enough to push him off of me and, once there was a little bit of room between us, I managed to aim a hard kick to his groin and…well, let's just say it will be a miracle if he's ever able to have kids."

"Jesus," Dave breathed.

"After college, there was a string of boyfriends who couldn't deal with the fact that I both carried a gun and was indispensible on a team comprised mostly of men. And then there was Will." JJ paused to gather her thoughts, "Will, who I thought was the man of my dreams. Will, the father of my beautiful baby. I thought…" She trailed off and shook her head. "Never mind what I thought, let's just say that Will hurt me in a way that no man ever has. Until today."

Wondering what in the hell the southerner did to her, Dave asked, "Jen, did he hit you? Did he physically harm you?"

"No, but his actions hurt worse than a punch," she said tiredly, as if the reminiscing had exhausted her.

"I'm sorry, JJ," he said, one hundred percent sincere this time.

She sighed, "If it had been just me, it would have been one thing, but you insulted my family. You questioned the genuineness and integrity of me, my parents and my siblings and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for that."

"Jen," he started, but JJ cut him off.

"Go back inside, Dave," she said, picking the axe up again. "Go inside before I start chopping a whole different kind of wood." With that, she turned back to the chopping block and split a small log in half.

Dave, who knew JJ would make good on her threat, turned and walked back toward the house. He wondered if he'd finally found a woman who wouldn't put up with his smooth talking bullshit and he wondered if he'd fucked things up too badly to ever get back in her good graces.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 9

* * *

After dinner that night, JJ went upstairs and took a leisurely bath in the old-fashioned, claw footed bathtub. It was rare that she got any free time to relax and she was taking advantage of having a house full of people available to keep an eye on her son.

As she soaked, she thought back to the events of the day. Did Rossi really expect her to swoon after he told her that his three marriages had been rough on him? After the way he had insulted her and her family, he was lucky that she hadn't embedded the axe into his empty skull. Why she'd ever thought bringing him here would be a good idea, she would never know. As it was, she realized the entire thing had been one giant mistake.

She swiped away an errant tear as she thought about the feelings she had for Dave and the hopes she'd had for this weekend. When she'd invited…no, make that forced him to come home with her, she'd hoped to get to know him on a deeper level. Hell, who was she kidding? She had hoped they would fall deeply in love and ravish each other in her childhood bedroom.

But if she was honest with herself, her feelings for Rossi weren't just about sex and passion. Since he'd rejoined the unit she'd gotten to know him on a somewhat deeper level and she'd come to realize that the man who was a legendary Lothario also had a sensitive side, even if he didn't show it all that often. The identity he projected to the world was a tough and stoic one, but the one he projected in private, when it was just the two of them in the break room, was a caring and thoughtful one and it was that side of David Rossi that she'd fallen in love with. But today the man had shown that while he may have a softer side, he could be bitingly mean when he wanted to be and she didn't know if she could forgive him for his horribly insulting words. Her parents had always told her that life was too short to hold a grudge, but she was having trouble holding onto that notion.

With a sigh, she pulled the bathtub plug and stepped out of it. She quickly dried herself off, put on her pajamas and made her way to the first floor. As she her foot hit the bottom step, she heard a happy squeal of laughter from her son and she headed towards the large family room. She expected to see her mother or father with Henry, so she was shocked to see Rossi on the floor with her son, giving his tummy raspberries with his mouth. As the legendary profiler blew on her son's belly again, Henry again squealed and had trouble catching his breath as he was laughing too hard. Realizing that the infant had probably had enough, Rossi, who was wearing a goofy grin, sat up and gathered the boy up into his arms. Henry, who was still smiling, snuggled into Rossi's chest and threw his tiny arms around the man's neck and at that moment, JJ's heart began to thaw. For a man who professed not to like children, he sure seemed to be getting along well with her son.

"What's going on in here?" She asked and Dave, Henry and Sarah, who was on the sofa reading a book, turned and looked at her.

"Sorry JJ," Dave said softly, "I know it's almost his bedtime and I didn't mean to rile him up, I just couldn't resist playing with the little guy."

"It's okay Dave, I was just surprised is all," JJ said softly. Her gentle tone of voice surprised everyone in the room, including herself. 'Damn that man for using my son to get back into my good graces!' She thought to herself as Dave transferred Henry into her arms. As she walked back up the stairs to put her son to bed, she felt even more confused than she had just minutes before. While she still felt a hot flash of burning anger when she thought back to his unkind words earlier in the afternoon, a small part of her had begun to hope again. Shaking her head, she walked into the bedroom she was sharing with her sister and began the nightly bedtime ritual with her son.

While JJ was upstairs trying to settle her son down, Mike and Steve were in the kitchen playing cards with their parents, which left Dave alone in the family room with Sarah. As soon as JJ left the room, Sarah started in on him.

"Jenny told me what you said to her today," she said with a glare. Dave sighed and sat down in the easy chair across from her.

"Look Sarah, I didn't mean it. I never meant to insinuate that you and your family would use me for my money."

"Then why did you say it?" She asked. "And why would you say it to Jenny? Good God, Dave, Jenny is one of the kindest, most honest people you will ever meet. Why would you say something so devastating to her?"

"Because I wasn't thinking. No, that's not right, I was actually thinking about why someone as good as your sister seems to give a shit about me and my well-being. You don't know me, Sarah, but not many people care whether I live or die. Your sister happens to be one of the few who do and I can't understand why that is."

"Because she lo…no, you know what? I can't tell you why she cares about you, but she does. You need to fix this, Dave and you need to fix it fast. If you don't, I will make you regret it," she warned.

Dave's curiosity was piqued; it wasn't often that young people spoke to him in this way, much less outright threatened him and he was curious as to what she could do. "And how will you do that?" He said, a touch patronizing.

Sarah glared at him, "Ever heard of the internet? You're a big shot author, but what happens when I launch an internet campaign against you? How many people do you think will buy your books after my friends and I trash them in the comments section of Amazon and Barnes & Noble? How popular do you think an 'I Hate David Rossi' Facebook page would be? I have many friends in cyberspace and they would only be too happy to help me with this, not to mention all of _their _friends and their friend's friends. Get my drift?" She said lethally, raising one eyebrow.

"Are you sure you're not friends with Penelope Garcia?" He mumbled.

"What?" She asked, not having heard him.

"Nothing," he said. "I _will_ fix this, Sarah. Not because of your threats…okay, not _only_ because of your threats, but because I genuinely care about your sister. I have the same feelings for her that I suspect she has for me and I will do whatever it takes to make things right with her."

The teen's look softened, "I'm glad to hear that, Dave; because of that, I'm going to hold off on posting my scathing review of your first book." She paused for a moment as she saw his face soften in relief. "Oh, and Dave? I _do_ know Penelope Garcia; Jenny introduced me when I stayed with her for a week last summer."

"Shit," Dave breathed, knowing what was coming next.

Sarah had to hold back laughter as she saw the look of terror come over Rossi's face. It wasn't often that she was able to intimidate a man of his caliber and she wanted to soak up the moment. "Imagine what Garcia would do if she knew what you said to Jenny. Do you really think you would have all of that money by the time she worked out her anger toward you? Would you be able to step onto a commercial flight again? How about all of the watch lists you feds keep track of? How long do you think it would take for your name to appear on them?"

"Easy Sarah," Dave said shakily, "I told you I would fix this and I will, there's no need to involve Garcia." There were few people on the planet who intimidated the legendary profiler, but Garcia was one of them. Hell, she didn't intimidate him, she _terrified_ him and the last thing he needed was for her to find out about the jackassery he displayed earlier in the afternoon.

"I'll hold off on calling her, but only because I want you to be able to support Jenny in her old age," the teen said with a slight smile.

"Thanks," he said wryly as she went back to her book. He turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. While he channel surfed, he thought about exactly how he would get through to the stubborn blonde.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 10

**~Once again, thanks for all of the reviews!**

**~I promise I haven't forgotten about Happily Ever After! RL has been REALLY busy and chaotic lately, but I hope (HOPE!) to post an update either tomorrow or Monday.**

**~TGI Spring Break! **

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was a quiet affair and everyone was absorbed in their own thoughts. As he ate, Dave wondered how he'd managed to fuck everything up as royally as he had and how he would go about fixing it. As he took a sip of his coffee, he glanced around the table; there was a definite chill coming from the women in the room and if looks could kill, the ones he was getting from both JJ and Sarah would have sent him to his grave. Mike and Steve were still acting normally towards him, but he didn't think they knew what had gone on between him and their sister, or maybe they did and, as guys, they cut him a little more slack for his asshat ways.

JJ's parents both looked at him not with anger in their eyes, per se, but instead with a look of both annoyance and…hope? He didn't know what to make of their expressions, but he saw that they didn't spend much time focused on him; instead they were warily watching their second oldest son, who had a devilish gleam in his eye. As Dave noticed this, Steven opened his mouth to speak.

"So what do you women have planned for us for dinner tonight?" He asked, looking at JJ. "It's the last night of the year, so I'm hoping it's a good one."

JJ, who was already in a foul mood because of her idiot co-worker, felt a flash of anger. She bent down and looked under the table, murmuring "Hmmmmm," softly.

"What are you looking for, Jenny?" Steve asked.

JJ straightened up, "It's funny, I don't see a cast on your leg, so why do you assume that you won't be helping prepare tonight's meal?" Her voice became louder with each word and everyone at the table could both see and hear her anger.

"Pfft," Steve said, waving away her statement with his hand, "That's not my job here, Jenny," he said condescendingly. "You, mom and Sarah always cook the meals; it's women's work."

Somewhere, deep inside of her, a tiny part of her brain realized her brother was joking, but that part couldn't stop the rising fury or her next actions. Jumping to her feet, she picked up her cereal bowl, which was still half full of milk and cheerios, reached across the table and dumped the contents into her brother's lap. "Asshole!" She hissed as she ran out of the room.

"Jennifer Lynn!" Her mother yelled, although she wasn't too shocked by her daughter's actions; it seemed like every time the family was together, Steve somehow managed to push his sister's buttons.

"Ha! Pay up!" Steve ordered, turning towards his older brother. Mike sighed, opened his wallet, pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed it to his brother.

"It shouldn't count," Mike grumbled as he put his wallet away, "It was like shooting fish in a barrel."

"God, for two smart guys, you both are idiots!" Sarah exclaimed as Steve started mopping up his pants with the rag his mother had passed to him. "You were purposely _trying _to piss off the one person in this family who carries a gun. Real smart! You're lucky Jenny just dumped a bowl of cereal on your lap instead of shooting you there."

"Wait, you _wanted _ to provoke JJ?" Dave said, trying to make sense of the conversation.

Steve nodded his head, "Jenny usually has at least one meltdown like that at a family get together, but she hasn't had one all year, so Mike bet me fifty bucks that our little sis would make it until the New Year without losing her cool. Guess I showed him!" He crowed.

"You two are morons," JJ's dad said as he stood up. As much as he had tried to protect his eldest daughter from the antics of her two immature older brothers over the years, they always managed to push her buttons at least once on a trip home. He shook his head as he carried his dishes over to the counter and set them in the sink. Turning around, he faced the table again. "Take a walk with me, Dave?" He said conversationally, but Dave's years of profiling told him that the man wanted to do more than walk with him.

"Sure, Tom," Dave agreed as he brought his own dishes to the sink. He set them down and then followed Tom out of the room, down the hallway and into a small home office. Both men entered the room, and Tom shut the door behind them. Hearing the door click into place, a small part of Dave wondered if he would make it out of the room alive; surely Barb had told him what he'd said to his daughter. He sat down in one of the chairs across from the large oak desk as Tom walked around and sat on the other side of it. Then the man just stared at Dave thoughtfully for a moment before he confirmed his fear.

"My wife told me about the words you exchanged with my daughter earlier," he said, staring at the profiler. "You know for a writer, you didn't choose your words very well, did you?"

"Tom, I'm sorry, I never meant to imply-" Tom Jareau cut Dave's apology off with a wave of his hand.

"I don't care about your apologies; you said what you did and it's out there; you can't take it back. For the record, I'm not offended by your offer of money; men do strange things when they're in love and from what I've seen, you're smitten with my Jenny."

Dave sat back in his seat and internally debated about what to say to JJ's dad. Should he deny his love of JJ or should he be up front about it? Deciding to lay all of his cards on the table, Dave nodded, "You're right, I am head over heels in love with her, although I think I ruined any chance I had with her with my asinine words yesterday."

"I'm not so sure about that," Tom told him. "My Jenny can be a spitfire, and Lord knows she can react impulsively when pushed too far, but what she also has is an amazing capacity for forgiveness, especially towards those she loves and you, Dave, are included in that group."

"Really?" Dave asked, almost holding his breath.

Tom nodded, "Really. You may be a fancy profiler who holds numerous degrees regarding the study of people and their behaviors, but I know my daughter and I can see that my little girl loves you."

"How do you feel about that, sir?" Dave asked, wondering if Tom had dragged him in here to warn him away from JJ. If that was the case, the man had better have a loaded shotgun behind his desk because a chest full of buckshot would be the only thing that would keep him from pursuing the blonde beauty.

Tom shrugged, "I'm fine with it, Dave. You may be older than my Jenbug, but that don't make much difference to me; what does matter is that you'll treat her well and, yesterday notwithstanding, I know you're old school and you know how to treat a woman right, unlike some of the men she's been with."

Hearing the anger in last part of his statement, Dave decided to push his luck a little. "Tom, what happened between JJ and Will?"

Tom looked surprised, "She never told you?" Dave shook his head and Tom thought for a moment. "No, I don't suppose she would have."

"All I know is that Will left her and Henry suddenly, and honestly, she hasn't been quite the same since. The spark in Jen's eyes dulled after that and I want to be the one to bring it back to life."

JJ's dad chewed that over in his mind for a minute and then nodded, "Okay, I'll tell you, but God help both of us if she ever learns that I told you about this."

"Your secret is safe with me," Dave assured the older man.

Tom sighed, "He hurt her, Dave, he hurt her badly."

Dave's blood pressure shot up and he momentarily saw red. "Did he physically harm her?" He asked tightly. "Did that southern jackass dare hurt one hair on her head? Because if he did, he's dead; I'll have him floating down the Mississippi in no time flat!"

Tome smiled ruefully, "Hell no, he didn't hit her; if he had, I would've killed the son of a bitch myself. No, Will was gay."

"What?" Dave practically whispered as he sat back down in the chair.

Tom nodded, "Apparently his parents were devout Christians and Will knew they would never accept a gay son in their lives, so he dated women on and off during his adult life."

"Why did he glom onto JJ? If it was a ruse, why not date her, introduce her to his folks and then break up with her?" Dave wondered aloud.

"Will's father died right before he and Jenny got together and his mother was devastated. Now, being a proper mama's boy from the south, Will was willing to do anything to make his mama happy, so when he met Jenny, he knew he needed to take the ruse further to make his mother happy," Tom said. "To give the dipshit credit, I don't think he planned on knocking my daughter up, but when it happened, the man was happier than a clam because it not only showed he was straight, it made his mother immensely happy. The way Jenny tells it, from the moment she told him she was pregnant, he was constantly asking her to marry him. Thank God she never gave in," Tom said with a shudder.

"So what happened? Why did he leave her?" Dave asked, still mentally planning the Cajun's demise.

"His mother died suddenly and it was as if Will was free to live the kind of life he wanted. Three days after his mother's funeral, he told Jenny that he had never loved her, that their life together was a sham and that he was moving back to New Orleans to be with his secret lover."

"Jesus," Dave breathed.

"Then he told her that not only didn't he love her, he didn't want to be a part of their son's life either and then he threw a signed waiver of paternity at her. While she was reeling from that, the bastard cleaned out their joint checking account and the savings account they had started for Henry's college fund and took all of it with him to New Orleans," Tom told him. "She hasn't heard from him or seen him since and that's how she wants it. She didn't go after him for the money he took or for child support because she just wants him to stay the hell out of her life and she doesn't want Henry to have an unloving father in his life."

"Good God," Dave said, as close to speechless as he had ever been.

"So you see Dave, my daughter has had her share of heartbreak when it comes to men."

"I had no idea," Dave said. "Believe me, if I had, Will would be dead right now. Hell, I can't promise that he won't meet with an accident in the near future!"

Tom smiled, "I knew you were like me, Dave. You and I, we're a different breed of men; we take care of our women and protect them, even when they don't want us to."

"You're damn right we do," Dave said firmly. "I swear to you, Tom, I had no idea that it was that bad between her and LaMontagne. One thing your daughter is very good at is keeping secrets."

"Lord how I know that!"

"And I promise that if your daughter gives me another chance, I will never just up and leave her or treat her badly. I cherish the very ground JJ walks on and I will do anything to make her and Henry permanent fixtures in my life," Dave told him. "Any ideas on how I can do that?"

Tom thought for a minute; normally he wouldn't help any of Jenny's beaus, primarily because the thought of his little girl being intimate with someone made him want to lock her in the basement to keep her safe, but he liked Dave and he knew the profiler would treat her well.

"She's always valued directness," Tom said. "That and complete honesty. Don't try and bullshit my daughter Dave, she'll smell it from a mile away."

Dave thought for a moment and then nodded and rose from his chair. "Thanks Tom, you have no idea how much this has helped."

"I hope it goes without saying that if you _do_ hurt my daughter or break her heart, I will come to DC, hunt you down and kill you." JJ's dad warned.

"I would kill myself before I hurt her," Dave said softlyand then left the room. He wanted to fix things with JJ before the New Year, so he only had a few hours to convince her to talk to him.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 11

**~Yay! I had hoped to update this story again while I was on spring break and since my class isn't for seven more hours, I made it! I'll be a zombie in class later, but it was worth it.**

**~Once again, thanks for all of the reviews!**

* * *

Later that night, after a late dinner of grilled steaks and large baked potatoes, Dave grabbed his coat from the hook by the front door and stepped onto the porch. The one person he wanted to talk to was out there and he hoped he could convince her to give him another chance.

"JJ," he said and he saw the younger woman jump.

"Jesus Rossi, you scared the hell out of me," she told him as she spun around to face him.

"Sorry Jen, I didn't mean to," he told her.

"Yeah, well, we'll just add that to the list of things you didn't mean to do this weekend," she snarked.

Dave sighed, "I came out here to ask you if you'd go for a walk with me," he said and wasn't too surprised when the blonde snorted rudely.

"In your dreams, Rossi. The only walk I want to see you take is a long one off of a short pier!"

"Jen, you have to let me explain-" he started, but JJ shook her head.

"No, actually I don't, all I have to do is get through the rest of the night and the car ride home tomorrow and that's it, then we can go back to being, what was it you said yesterday? Ah yes, we can go back to being colleagues, to being barely friends," she said with anger and a touch of sadness in her voice.

Dave winced as she threw his hurtful words back in his face, "JJ, you have to let me-"

"I have to let you do WHAT, Dave? Insult me and my family again? Break my heart again? What exactly is it that you want from me?" She yelled.

Dave could see that the volume of her voice had drawn an audience, since every window that faced out onto the porch had a face in it. "Can we please go somewhere and talk? Let's not do this with everyone watching."

"We're not _doing_ anything, Dave," she told him and then tried pushing past him to get into the house, but Dave had finally reached the end of his patience.

"Dammit, woman, I didn't want to do it like this, but you've left me no choice!" He growled.

"Do what? Hey! Put me down!" She shouted as Dave scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder, fireman style. He stepped off of the porch and started for the clearing behind the house, with JJ kicking and shouting the entire time.

"Put me down, you Neanderthal! You can't just resort to physical intimidation when you don't get your way!" She shrieked.

"Wanna bet?" He asked as he both walked and dodged her well-aimed kicks. "Christ JJ! You almost got me in the nuts that time!"

"What do you think I was _trying _to do, moron? You'd better hope you can hold me like this until your dying day, because when you finally let me down, I'm going to KILL you!" She shouted, right in his ear.

"Well seeing as you've already deafened me and threatened my ability to reproduce, you might as well end my suffering, but not until you hear what I have to say!" He stopped and looked around; they were far enough away from the house so the rest of her family couldn't eavesdrop, but close enough to get back to it before the clock struck midnight. Rossi set the media liaison down on her feet and then quickly took a couple of steps backwards in case she decided to make good on her threat.

As JJ felt her feet hit the ground, her first instinct was to end the life of the legendary profiler, but as she saw him step back from her, she saw genuine remorse and anguish in his face, so she decided to listen to what he had to say.

"Fine Rossi, you got me out here, so speak!" She ordered as she sat down on a tree stump.

Dave took a deep breath, "Once again, I want to apologize for even _thinking _that you would do something as devious as what I accused you of doing. I know you and I know you would never use me for my money."

"You're damn right I wouldn't!" She spat.

"But you have to understand, Jen, most women I've been with have wanted something from me. My first wife…we married young and she knew she couldn't compete with my job at the BAU. At that time, the guys and I knew we were building something great and the job consumed me. Mary Beth finally gave me an ultimatum; the BAU or her. I chose the BAU and she left me." Dave told her. JJ stayed quiet, so Dave continued speaking.

"My second wife came along after my first book hit the best seller list and it was obvious even back then that she only wanted me for my money, but I was too blinded by love to see that. We only lasted a few years before we split and she took most of the money I earned from that book."

"I heard rumors about that," JJ murmured, "But I wasn't sure if they were true."

"They were," he confirmed. "My third wife…she not only wanted my money, but she also wanted my genes. She wanted to create the perfect looking children and she wanted to be the perfect little family, that is until the kids reached school age. Then she wanted to ship them off to boarding school. Now, I've always wanted kids, but I want a real family, not some Stepford, imitation family and I realized I could never have kids with Paulette, I could never send my kids off to boarding school. We lasted about 10 months before we divorced and she tried cleaning me out, but I had an ironclad pre-nup."

"Okay," JJ said slowly, "I know you've had a rough time with women, but that doesn't excuse your behavior yesterday."

"I know it doesn't and I'm not trying to, but I'm trying to get you to see _why_ I thought you were using me," Dave told her.

"I _guess_ I can see where you were coming from," she admitted, "but it was still an asshole thing to say!"

"I know it was and, once again, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," she said grudgingly.

"So where does this leave us?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" JJ replied.

"Look Jennifer, I'm going to lay all of my cards out on the table," he said and then took a deep breath. "I'm in love with you. I have been since the day I met you and I will be until the day I die and I think you have similar feelings for me."

JJ could count on one hand the number of times she'd been rendered speechless in her life, and this was one of those times. David Rossi, the living legend of the BAU was in love with _her_? Was it possible that while she had been pining away for him, he'd been doing the same for her? She shook her head as if to clear it. "What are you talking about, Dave? How can you be in love with me? I'm no one, I'm just the lowly media liaison for a bunch of heroic profilers. How can you love me?"

"How can I not?" He responded. "You're a kind and caring woman and every time I see you hold a victim's hand, or help one of our team members through a rough time, I fall even more in love with you. You are everything I've ever dreamed of in a woman and more. I love you with my entire heart and soul and I would be willing to do anything to make you a permanent fixture in my life."

Seeing that the woman was speechless for the second time in five minutes, Dave looked into her eyes, "JJ, are you still with me?" He gave a relieved sigh when he saw her nod, "What do you think about what I've said, honey?" He asked and then held his breath for her response.

"What do I think?" She repeated. "My thoughts are in a jumble right now. Lord knows I have feelings for you as well, but I have some reservations, Dave."

Ecstatic that she admitted her feelings towards him, he asked, "What kind of reservations, Jen?"

"Henry," she said. "You don't like kids, but Henry's an important part of my life. How are we going to deal with that?"

"First, we are not going to 'deal with' Henry. He's a living, breathing, _adorable _human being and I've gotta say, he's melted my cold, dead heart when it comes to little kids. I think I didn't like them before because they intimidated me; I always thought I'd screw up with them somehow but Henry's shown me that I can be around small children and not break them." JJ smiled at this, remembering how she'd caught the older man playing with her son the night before. Dave, encouraged by her smile, pressed on. "I'll love Henry just as much as I will love any other children that we have in the future."

JJ ignored this and brought up her other concern, "What about work, Dave? I've worked hard to get where I am and I'm not going to transfer."

"No one will have to transfer, Jen," he told her.

"But what about the fraternization rules?" She asked.

"I checked and since I'm not your boss, they don't apply to us. Even if they did, Strauss is too petrified to cross me," he smirked.

"It might not be forbidden, but people will think I'm sleeping my way to the top," she countered.

"And if anyone says that, I'll kick their ass!" Dave retorted. "But if it gets bad enough for you, I'll retire again."

"You…you would do that for me?" JJ whispered.

Dave nodded, "In a heartbeat." He watched her rack her brain to find more objections to them being together and he decided to nip it in the bud. "Jennifer, if you can honestly tell me that you don't share the same feelings for me, I'll walk away and retire so things aren't weird for us at work. Just say the word, Jen and I'll leave you alone."

JJ was truly touched, no man had ever offered to sacrifice so much for her. Making a quick decision, she let a grin slowly stretch across her face. "I've been in love with you since I was a young co-ed and saw you in my college bookstore," she admitted.

Dave laughed and pulled her to her feet, "Why didn't you ever tell me?" He asked gently. From the house, they could hear JJ's family counting down the New Year.

"Ten, nine, eight."

"Because I thought you would reject me, I thought you would tell me I wasn't good enough for you," she said sheepishly as he pulled her into his arms.

"Seven, six, five."

"I could never reject you, Jen," he said as he stroked her face.

"Four, three, two."

"Happy New Year, Dave," JJ whispered as he brought his face close to hers.

"Happy New Year, Jen," he said as he brought his lips down on hers.

As they heard her family cheer in the New Year, they engaged in a passionate kiss. They both knew that the New Year would be a good one.

* * *

_A/N 2-This is a good place to end this story, but I have an idea for a few more chapters. Let me know if you want to see more!_


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 12

**~People overwhelmingly wanted more of this story, so I've decided to write a few more chapters. Enjoy!**

* * *

A year later, David Rossi looked up from his paperwork when he once again heard the clicking of Jennifer Jareau's heels approach his office.

"You ready to go, Rossi?" She asked from the doorway. "I promised my mom that we'd be there for dinner."

"I'm just finishing up this last report, Jen," he told her as he signed his name at the bottom. Looking back up at her, he asked, "Are you sure you want to go this year? You know, in your condition and all?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I want to go! Do you really think I want to disappoint my parents and siblings? Besides, if I'm not there, my mom will come down to DC and drag me to Pennsylvania by my hair!" JJ told him as she sat down heavily on the sofa.

"But JJ, you have a whole other person growing inside of you," Dave argued, as he came over and sat down next to her. "And you, sweetie, look ready to pop."

She gave him her fiercest glare, "I'm sorry, did you just call me fat?" She asked lethally.

"God, no!" Dave assured her. Her mood swings had grown worse with each passing month of her pregnancy and he knew his perceived slip of the tongue could very well get him killed at this point. "I'm simply saying that it's been a long pregnancy for you, especially since you refuse to go on maternity leave until you're actually in the hospital giving birth and I'm just wondering if you're up to taking this trip."

"I'm fine, Dave," She assured him. "I'm not due for another three weeks, so we have plenty of time."

"But your doctor said you shouldn't travel this close to your due date," he argued.

"Yeah, but that's for insurance reasons. What are the odds that I'll go into labor in the next three days?"

"What were the odds that I'd knock you up the first time we slept together?" He muttered. "We've never been really good at playing the odds, JJ."

"We're going Dave, end of story," she told him firmly. "Now get your ass in gear and meet me at my office in five minutes." After issuing her order, she tried getting up from the sofa gracefully, but she needed Dave's help for that. Once she was up, she tried stalking off, but it looked like more of a waddle. Still, Dave couldn't help but smile; no matter how inelegant she was, she would always be beautiful to him.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two and a half hours later, they were closing in on JJ's parent's house and, just like the previous year, it was starting to snow. Dave was driving and JJ had been dozing when she was awakened by her son from the back seat. "Dragon?" He asked.

JJ grabbed the diaper bag from the floor of the backseat and began rooting through it. "Did you bring his stuffed dragon?" She asked Dave.

He nodded, "It's in the large, outer pocket," he told her. JJ found it and handed it to her son, who was very happy to see his friend.

"Thank God," she said, setting the bag down, "I was worried you'd forget it. I can't believe I forgot it at your cabin; Henry could barely sleep last night."

"You know, we could avoid situations like that if you'd just agree to move in with me," Dave told her.

JJ shook her head, "No way, nuh-uh," she said. "I've been there, done that and it's not what it's cracked up to be. No, I'm not living with a guy again until we're married."

"Jesus Christ, Jen, how many times have I offered to make an honest woman out of you? Three? Four? I've practically _begged _you to be my wife and every time, you've said no!" Dave had to remind himself that the woman he loved was eight and a half months pregnant and that he shouldn't yell at her, but come on!

Things had been going well for the two of them since the New Year; once back in DC, they had begun dating and had gotten serious about each other. One thing eventually led to another and they found themselves sharing a bed during a rare weekend off. A month after that, JJ missed her period and began throwing up in the morning and two weeks later she had a diagnosis of pregnancy. At that point, Dave figured it would be easy to convince her to move in with him, but he had, of course, been dead wrong. She insisted on maintaining her own place, even though she and Henry were at his cabin five nights a week but like she said, she'd been burned before and not even a baby would change her cautiousness.

As for Henry, he and Dave had been getting along better than JJ could've ever hoped for; for someone who said he didn't like small children, he did wonderfully with her son. She couldn't count the number of times she'd come into the great room at the cabin and found Dave reading to Henry, or watching a cartoon with him or just horsing around with him. It warmed her heart to see Dave showing her son so much more affection than his biological father ever had and it made her less fearful of their future together since their future now included a baby. It reassured her to know that Dave would help in every aspect of the new baby's care.

"I'm not getting married just because I'm pregnant!" She yelled. "We're not ready for that step yet."

He had to grip the wheel tightly in order to keep from strangling her; they weren't ready for that step yet? They were having a _baby_ together, for Christ's sake, but they weren't ready for marriage? Taking a deep breath, Dave flipped on the turn signal and turned onto the winding driveway that led to the Jareau farmhouse.

"Fine JJ, we've discussed it and you know my feelings on the subject, but if you're not ready we'll wait," he told her as he pulled to a stop in front of the house. "But YOU'RE explaining it to your family!"


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 13

* * *

"What?" JJ asked her brother testily. "What in the hell is your problem, Steve?" It was an hour after she, Dave and Henry had arrived and they were all at the kitchen table enjoying an early dinner. Her older brother kept staring at her and it was starting to get on her nerves, although if she were honest, it didn't take much to do that anymore.

"Jennifer Lynn, watch your language!" Her mother admonished and JJ ducked her head as she was chastised. Dave, who had been helping Henry eat his dinner, chuckled softly.

"Enjoying the show, old man?" JJ asked him.

"Immensely," he responded from his seat next to her.

"Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't piss off a pregnant woman?" She asked sweetly. It was that sweet tone that made Dave's stomach plummet; he'd heard that tone many times over the past eight months and he knew it didn't bode well for him.

"Sorry honey," he said softly as he fed Henry a piece of banana.

Catching her brother staring at her again, JJ's voice rose, "I swear to God, Steve, if you don't stop staring at me, I'm going to get my gun out of the safe and use you for target practice!"

"She's not kidding, man," Dave warned, "She practically pegged our unit chief right between the eyes, under the guise of 'friendly fire,' for daring to suggest she eat something healthier than a Big Mac."

"Well who in the hell…sorry mom…who in the heck criticizes a pregnant woman's eating habits?" JJ asked the table at large as she rubbed her giant belly. "He's lucky I didn't aim lower."

"Are you alright, Jen?" Dave asked as he watched her rub her stomach and wince.

"I'm fine," she snapped, "_Your_ child has decided that this is the perfect time to practice their ballet moves. Combine that with the Braxton-Hicks contractions that I've been having for the last few weeks and it makes for an uncomfortable time."

Dave, who wasn't totally reassured by JJ's answer, glanced at her brother Mike, who nodded in agreement. While Dave hadn't wanted JJ to travel this far into her pregnancy, he was glad that there would be a doctor staying under the same roof as them.

"That's it, I'm getting my gun," JJ said as she caught her brother staring at her _again_. Everyone at the table hid their grins as they watched JJ struggle to get to her feet. Finally realizing it was hopeless, she plopped back down into her chair. "You just got lucky," she told her brother as she glared at him. "But seriously, what is your problem?"

"I just can't help but notice that your hands look awfully bare," Steve said with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Especially your ring finger."

"Steve-" JJ's dad began warningly, but his second eldest child was on a roll.

"Seriously Jenny, isn't this the second time you've found yourself in this predicament? Don't you know that it goes 'first comes love, then comes marriage, _then _comes Jenny with a baby carriage'?" The man wasn't really upset about his sister's unmarried status; hell, all he cared about was her happiness and he knew Dave made her extremely happy, but being the brother that he was, he couldn't resist teasing her. Fortunately for him, her significant other was sitting next to her.

"You son of a-" she started as she picked up her full plate of food. Dave, remembering the breakfast cereal incident from the previous year, grabbed her wrist and wrestled her plate back to the table as her mother jumped into the fray.

"Jennifer Lynn Jareau, thirty-three years old or not, _pregnant _or not, I will wash your mouth out with soap if you finish that sentence!" Barb Jareau warned.

"Fine," she said petulantly as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She pouted and gave her brother the evil eye.

"For the love of God, Jenny, pull it together; your son is behaving better than you are at the moment," her mother said, exasperated and she was right. Henry, who was sitting in his high chair, was watching his mother in wide-eyed shock. He picked up his food and held it out to her, "'Nanner?" He offered, holding a large piece of the fruit.

"No thanks, baby," she said soothingly. Henry smiled at her, picked up the large chunk of banana and mashed it into his golden locks. Both Dave and JJ were too slow to prevent this and they both groaned as they watched the toddler smear it around on his scalp.

"On that note, I think I'll take this one for his bath," Dave said as he stood up. JJ tried to get up as well, but Dave stopped her, "I've got him, honey; why don't you stay here and get caught up with your family?" He suggested as he lifted the squirming boy into his arms. "Be sure to let them know that I've proposed to you on three different occasions," he said in a voice that was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I'm going to kill you," she hissed and Dave's grin just grew bigger as he left the room with Henry.

JJ took a deep breath and looked up at her family. They were all staring at her in open-mouthed shock…everyone except for her father.

"He proposed to you?" Her sister Sarah exclaimed, "And you said _no_? Did you fall down and hit your head?"

"Sarah," JJ began but her baby sister wouldn't let her speak.

"He's a great guy, Jenny, what exactly are you waiting for? You're already having a baby with him!"

"I'm just not ready yet!" JJ said loudly. "You know my history with guys! I'm just not sure if I can put myself out there again."

Her oldest brother Mike snorted, "Newsflash, Jenbug, you've _already_ put yourself out there and you're committed to this relationship because, as it's been pointed out to you numerous times, you're having a BABY with him!"

"Yeah, but-" JJ tried protesting, but Sarah jumped back into the fray.

"Putting aside the fact that he's your baby's daddy," she said, "He's also, handsome, rich, intelligent and he's an all-around nice guy."

"How would you know?" JJ snapped, tired of her family ganging up on her and tired of the now constant pressure in her abdomen. "The only time you've seen him was last New Year's and when I brought him here for the Fourth of July."

Sarah shook her head, "That's not true. He was in New York last March and he took me out to dinner. He had looked up NYU's academic calendar, saw that it was mid-term week and he wanted to make sure I got at least one proper meal in me."

"Really?" JJ asked. That was before they had learned she was pregnant and he still made an effort to get to know her family?

"The man also helped me with my patent issue," Steve said. In early spring, Steve had invented a gadget for NASA that he wanted to patent, but he had no idea what he needed to do to make that happen. Figuring JJ had to know some lawyers in her line of work, he'd asked her to find one that might help him. JJ had mentioned it to Dave in passing one night and before she or Steve knew it, he was setting the astrophysicist up with one of the best patent attorneys in the country.

"True," JJ murmured.

"When I was in DC this past fall, he met up with me for drinks and pool at a local pub and all he could do was talk about you, Henry and the new baby," Mike said, referring to a time when JJ had been too exhausted to meet him as well. "I'm telling you, Jenny, the man has it bad for you."

JJ considered this and then her mother spoke up, "He helped us save the farm," she said quietly.

"WHAT?" She thundered. After all that had happened the previous year, with his accusations and his offer of money, she thought he knew better than to get involved in her family's financial issues. Apparently she had been wrong. "I'll kill him!"

"Settle down, Jenny," her mother directed. "He didn't give us money; instead he called one of his friends in the banking industry who then called the president of _our_ bank and convinced him to give us an extension. He also convinced the president to refinance our mortgage at a lower interest rate. With the adjustments made, we've been able to make our payments every month and still have a little left over."

"He did that for you?" JJ asked softly.

Tom Jareau nodded his head, "He also asked me for my permission to marry you when he proposed the first time," he told her.

"Really?" She whispered; the fact that he cared for her family so much and he wanted their approval meant a lot to her.

Her father nodded again, "None of us want to pressure you into doing something you're uncomfortable with, Jenny, but you need to think about why you keep telling him no. Are you doing it because you're not ready, or are you punishing him for what Will did to you?"


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 14

**~Wow, I'm kind of on a roll with my stories lately. Unfortunately, real life is about to hit me hard. I teach tomorrow, I have a big project due later this week and a HUGE paper due next week, so I don't know if I'll get to update as frequently as I have been. **

* * *

JJ, who was once again sharing her sister's bedroom with her, awoke at around three-thirty the next morning with the feeling that something wasn't right. As she lay there in the bed, she realized the sheets and mattress were soaked and her first thought was that she'd wet the bed. As she sat up and felt a contraction seize her abdomen, she realized she was in labor and it felt like she was pretty far along. Not wanting to panic her sister, she sought out the only other person in the house who should be awakened by this. She got to her feet and quickly cut through the connecting bathroom to her old bedroom where the father of one of her children was snoring loudly. She stood in the doorway and gripped her belly as another contraction hit her. Once the worst was over, she whispered, "Dave?" Getting no answer, she tried again.

"Dave?" She said more forcefully. Still getting no response, she flipped on the overhead light. "Rossi!"

Dave, who had been sleeping soundly, turned onto his side and looked at her through half closed eyes. "God, it's too early to get up, Jen, even if we _are _on a farm," he moaned. "Unless you've decided to join me in here?" Even though they weren't married, JJ's parents had originally assumed that her daughter and the older FBI agent would share a room while they were at the house. They had assumed wrong. JJ, who turned red at the mere _thought_ of sharing her childhood bed with someone who was not her husband, informed her parents that she and Henry would be bunking with Sarah again. Her parents, who had chalked her decision up to pregnancy induced moodiness, just nodded and agreed.

"Dave, you have to wake up!" JJ said as she made her way over to the bed.

"Don't wanna," he whined. "I'm so comfy and it's so nice and warm over here."

Then JJ said the one phrase that was guaranteed to fully wake him up. "Dave, I'm in labor!" She was right; less than a second after the last word was out of her mouth, Dave sprung out of bed.

"Labor? How far along? How far apart are the contractions?" He asked as he pulled his jeans on.

"Too close!" JJ gasped as another one hit her. Dave paled as he pulled on his t-shirt and rushed to her side. Once she got through it, she said, "If I had to guess, I'd say they're one to two minutes apart, and I really, really, REALLY want to push!"

"One to two minutes? Pushing? I knew it! I _knew_ you were in labor earlier, but no, you wouldn't hear it," he said in a panic. "'I'm fine Dave, its just gas Dave, I know my own body Dave!'"

"Are you going to stand there and gloat or are you going to help me?" JJ asked through clenched teeth.

He took a deep breath; the gloating would have to wait until later. "We've got to get you to the hospital," he said as he took her arm to help guide her.

"I don't think so," she said as she opened the curtains on the nearby window. Outside, a heavy snow was whirling around in a fierce wind.

"Jesus Christ!" Dave exclaimed, knowing that no land or air vehicle would be able to get JJ to a hospital before she delivered. He left her side, ran to the door, flung it open and yelled, "MIKE!"

He heard lights snap on all over the house and he could hear Henry begin to cry in the next room, but all he cared about was JJ's health and well-being. He rushed back to her side as people began filling the room.

"What in the hell is going on in here?" The patriarch of the family asked groggily. Then, as he saw his eldest daughter clutch at her belly, the situation dawned on him. "Aw, hell!"

Sarah, who was holding a crying Henry, asked, "Is she in labor?" Dave wanted to roll his eyes at the girl's inane question; obviously JJ was in labor, anyone with half a brain could see that.

"How close are the contractions?" Mike asked.

"Too close," Dave said with hysteria in his voice. "She woke me less than four minutes ago and she's already had two and it looks like the blizzard from hell out there so we can't get her to the hospital and-"

"Dave!" Mike said loudly, breaking the older man's hysterical rambling. "She's going to be okay, man. I'm well-trained in emergency childbirth and, from what Jenny told me, her OB said her pregnancy has progressed normally. This isn't the ideal situation for her to give birth, but it's not the worst one in the world either."

Steve, who had been standing near the door, whistled and said, "Damn Jenny! Can't you do _anything _normally?"

As yet another pain ripped through her abdomen, JJ clutched Dave's hand and said. "I'm. Going. To. Kill. Him." She didn't shout the words, but no one in the room had any doubt that she would make good on her threat just as soon as the contraction passed.

"Steve, go to my room and get my medical bag, would you?" Mike asked, wanting to get him as far away from their homicidal sister as possible. "And then I want you to go down to the kitchen and boil a shit ton of water."

"Take Henry with you," JJ ordered, "He doesn't need to see this."

"No one needs to see this," Steve mumbled as he went to take Henry from his younger sister. Before he reached her, a thick, hardcover book hit him square in the chest. "Owww! Shit, Jenny!"

"Keep talking, asshole, and the next one will hit you in the head!" She hissed as she grabbed another book from the shelf.

Barb, who had returned with clean blankets and sheets, overheard the exchange between her children. "It's a good thing we're in the middle of an emergency; otherwise my bar of Ivory Soap would be getting quite a workout."

Steve, who didn't want a concussion _or _a mouthful of soap, took his nephew from his other sister and quickly left the room.

"Jenny, I need you to lie down on the bed so I can take a look," Mike said.

"This just keeps getting better and better," JJ said with a groan. "My brother is about to see a part of me that _no _brother should see."

"Hey, it's not exactly a day at the races for me either, Jenbug," Mike told her. "Now lie down on the goddamned bed!"

With a huff, JJ lay down on the bed. Dave was behind her supporting her back, so it wasn't too uncomfortable, until her brother began poking and prodding. "Jesus, Jenbug, you don't mess around, do you?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Here," came a voice from the doorway. "Here's your medical bag," Steve said, handing it to his mother. "If it's all the same to you, I'm going to go downstairs to boil the water."

"GET OUT!" JJ screamed as she was once again seized with pain. Her brother didn't need to be told twice and he left quickly.

"Jenny, you're ten centimeters dilated and you're beginning to crown," Mike told her.

JJ shook her head, "That's impossible; all of this took _hours_ with Henry!"

"All babies are different, Jenbug. On the next contraction I want you to push, okay?" He asked. To his surprise, his sister shook her head.

"No, I refuse to have another baby out of wedlock," she said resolutely.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

New Year's With a Friend-Chapter 15

**~So this is it, the final chapter. I didn't have time to respond to all of the reviews I got, so want to give a huge thanks to my faithful reviewers: Mummacass, p95000, dustytiger, mrytale2-5, kimd33, HansonFanGermany, Randallsbaby, D'Arean, MaryEllen1960, crazyobsession101 and everyone else who reviewed!**

* * *

"Jenny, I don't think you understand; the baby is coming NOW! You don't have much choice in the matter," Mike told her, remembering her stubborn streak from childhood.

"The hell I don't!" She shot back, "I am _not _going to have another baby before I'm married and that's final!" She shouted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

From his position behind her, Dave practically whispered, "Does this mean…does this mean you'll marry me?" He didn't want to say it too loud for fear it would spook her and she would change her mind. He grabbed the nearby bed pillows and propped them up behind her as he moved to her side.

"It does," JJ told him, "And it needs to happen now!"

"Jen, as thrilled as I am that you finally agreed to marry me, I don't think now's the time-" he was cut off by a shriek from his soon to be wife.

"MAKE the time, Rossi!"

"Bug, I agree with your fiancé," her father contributed. "It doesn't matter if you're married when the baby is born, what matters is that you're getting married, and soon," he said, giving Dave a meaningful look.

"We'll throw you a very nice wedding in the spring, honey," her mother tried to placate her, but it didn't work.

"I don't think you people understand!" She screeched, "I am getting married RIGHT NOW! I don't want a fucking spring wedding and I don't want one tomorrow! I want to be married before this baby arrives and I don't mind telling you, I'm prepared to cross my legs and hold it in until that happens!"

"Goddamned crazy women in labor," Mike mumbled angrily from his position at the end of the bed, "_This_ is why I didn't become an OB/GYN!"

"Fuck you, Mike! You're not the one squeezing something the size of a goddamned watermelon out of something that's the size of a lemon! And without drugs! You try staying sane while doing this!" She screamed as another contraction hit her.

Dave paled as she squeezed his hand during the contraction, "Jen, come on, the baby wants to come out, can't you just-"

"No, nuh-uh," she said as she panted, "No wedding, no baby."

"Dammit Jenny," her brother began, but her sister Sarah stepped in before he could finish.

"Um, guys? I can marry you," she said and everyone in the room stared at her as if she'd grown a third eye right in the middle of her forehead.

"What?" Dave asked in disbelief.

Sarah nodded her head, "Two of my friends got married last summer and they didn't want the whole 'traditional church wedding' thing, so I became an internet minister and married them. It was official for them and I can make yours official too, I'll just have to backdate the wedding license information."

"Oh my God Sarah, you're a lifesaver! Do it! Do it now!" JJ ordered.

"Do you guys have rings?" She asked.

Barb went running out of the room, while Dave reached into his nearby duffel bag and pulled out the engagement ring he'd had for the last six months. "You still have it," JJ breathed with a smile on her face.

Dave nodded, "I was going to ask you again at the stroke of midnight tomorrow."

She gave him a loving look, "I would've said yes, even without this," she said, gesturing to her large baby bump.

Barb ran back into the room with both a small jewelry box and Steve. She handed JJ the box and she opened it and gasped.

"It was your grandfather's wedding ring," her mother explained. "I think this is an appropriate use for it, don't you?"

"Thanks mom," JJ said softly as she took the ring from the box.

"So, are you gonna have dad walk you down the aisle, Jenbug?" Steven asked with a grin on his face.

JJ, who _so_ wasn't in the mood for his jackassery, let out a primal scream and then tried to claw her way off of the bed. Dave struggled to hold her down as she screamed, "I'm going to make you into a goddamned eunuch!"

As Steve hastily moved to the other side of the room, Dave asked, "Where's Henry?"

"Asleep on mom and dad's bed," he said, "I figured the little guy didn't need to be traumatized for life by seeing all of this."

"Well holy shit, that's the first good idea you've had all day!" JJ said sarcastically.

"Okay folks, if we're going to do this wedding, we need to do it now," Mike ordered, "Because this baby _really_ wants to come out and meet its family."

"Okay," Sarah said, "Dearly beloved," she started, but Dave interrupted.

"I don't really think we have time for all of that," Dave said as JJ painfully gripped his hand again.

"Oh, right," the young woman said. "Dave, do you take Jenny, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

"I do," he replied as he slipped the engagement ring onto her finger.

"And Jenny," she continued, "Do you take Dave, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

"I do," she yelled as the pain hit her once again and didn't recede. Dave quickly shoved his hand under her face and she jammed the ring onto his finger.

"By the power vested in me by the state of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you husband and wife," Sarah finished quickly, knowing that her niece or nephew was going to be entering the world in a matter of seconds.

Dave and JJ shared a quick kiss before she gave an intense push, combined with a scream.

"Okay Jenny, hang on a second," Mike directed as he reached for the bulb suction. A second later a loud cry filled the room. "I've got the head delivered, so I just need one more push and you can meet your baby."

JJ nodded, gave the needed push and felt the baby slide from her body. Dave, who had never seen something so amazing, was in tears. "You did it, Jen," he said softly as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

"H-how is the baby?" JJ asked, exhausted and emotional from both her wedding and the stress of giving birth.

"She's gorgeous, Jenny," Mike said, with tears in his own eyes.

"She? It's a girl?" JJ asked with a tired smile.

Mike nodded, "It's a girl. Do you want to cut the cord, Dave?"

"I won't hurt them?" He asked as he moved to the foot of the bed.

"Nope, just cut here," he indicated between the two clamps. Dave did and then Mike handed him his baby girl.

"Hello sweetie," he said softly cooed as he brought her up to JJ. "You're just as gorgeous as your mother.

There wasn't a dry eye in the room as both JJ and Dave marveled over the baby they had created.

xxxxxxxxxx

Twenty hours later, both JJ and Dave were lying on her bed in the nice, clean, local hospital.

"Can you believe she's really here?" JJ whispered, both because her daughter Katherine was nursing and Henry was asleep in Dave's arms.

Dave shook his head in wonderment, "I've never seen anything more beautiful than this," he said, gesturing to his new wife and new daughter. "Katie's hungry tonight," he remarked.

"Don't remind me," JJ said with a soft groan. "Sore nipples are the one thing I didn't miss when Henry finally made the switch to solid food."

"If I could do it for you, I would, Jen," Dave said and was surprised to hear her give an unladylike snort.

"Please, you are such a baby when it comes to pain. She would clamp down on you too hard just once and then she would starve."

Dave grinned, "You might have a point."

All was silent in the room and then they heard the television at the nurses' station start to count down the seconds until the New Year. JJ looked at her husband and saw that he had a reflective look on his face. "What is it Dave?" She asked.

He shook his head as if to clear it, "I was just thinking that last year at this time I was spending New Year's with a friend, and this year I'm spending it with my family," he told her and her heart melted.

As they heard the TV count down to one, Dave whispered lovingly, "Happy New Year's, Jen."

"Happy New Year's, Dave," she replied and then, with both kids asleep in their arms, they shared a kiss.

**The End **


End file.
